Gemelli Gourmet Market North opens in Glen Head
Eggplant caponata, top, and sauteed escarole are two traditional Cosentino family recipes on the menu at Gemelli Gourmet Market North in Glen Head. Credit: Newsday / Erica Marcus
The spirit of Gelsomina Cosentino imbues every inch of Glen Head’s Gemelli Gourmet Market North. The matriarch of the family that owns Gemelli Fine Foods, Gemelli Ristorante and Gemelli’s Catering in Babylon died in July 2015, but her daughter, Patrizia Cosentino Schutz, opened this store in November with “Mama Gemelli” in mind.
Patrizia is joined in the operation by her husband, Robert, son Marc and twin daughters Adriana and Alessia. (Twins, “gemelli” in Italian, run in the Cosentino family, with two sets among Gelsomina’s grandchildren — hence the name of the business.)
In the months after their grandmother’s death, Patrizia said, all three of her children decided to go into the family business. “They’d all worked in Babylon since they were small, but like Marc said, ‘Now we really want to carry on.’ ”
Three more full-time relatives were more than the Babylon businesses could accommodate, so the Schutz wing found a new location, the vacant site of Bernard’s Market & Café (2007-2014). “We’ve got twice the space here that we have at the Babylon store,” Patrizia said, “so we can do some new things — a sushi bar, a chopped salad station.”
As in Babylon you’ll find a butcher counter, homemade fresh sausage, brick-oven pizzas, heros and sandwiches, grab-and-go roast chickens, a small produce selection and a wealth of Italian pastas, cheeses and salumi. But the soul of Gemelli’s is Gelsomina’s cooking, which Patrizia and Marc faithfully re-create: sweet and sour eggplant caponata ($10.99 a pound), eggplant rollatini ($9.99), sautéed escarole with pine nuts ($10.99), meatballs (made of meat or eggplant, $7.99 a pound), pork or beef braciole ($8.99), mozzarella in carrozza ($5.99 each).
Take a meal home, or eat it in the small dining area with fresh espresso or pastry. A full breakfast is also served. The store is open Monday to Saturday 8 a.m. to 7 p.m., Sunday 8 a.m. to 5 p.m.
716 Glen Cove Ave., Glen Head; 516-200-9746, gemelligourmetmarketnorth.com
